Do you have a song in your heart that you want to share it with others? In the Singer/Songwriter specialization, you will learn all the skills you need to write, perform, and record your own original music. You’ll begin by learning how to play the guitar to accompany yourself in Guitar for Beginners. You’ll learn how to play chords and scales, as well as strumming patterns and finger picking patterns. In Singing Popular Music, you’ll explore your voice and develop your own personal style. You’ll learn how to sing properly, mastering the correct techniques and breath support. From there, you’ll hone your writing craft, focusing on lyrics. You’ll learn about stressed and unstressed syllables, rhyme schemes, and lyrical phrasing.You’ll also record into a Digital Audio Workstation, focusing on Ableton Live and capturing both MIDI and real instruments into your DAW to record and share your ideas with the world.
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The Singer Songwriter Specialization
Write, perform, and record original music. Learn how to transform your ideas and emotions into songs that are uniquely you
Instructors: Erin Barra
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What you'll learn
The basics of playing the guitar, including chords, scales, strumming and picking patterns.
How to sing in your preferred genre and style healthfully, using proper breathing and vocal techniques.
Basic songwriting tools and techniques to augment your songwriting.
How to record, edit, and mix music productions that include MIDI and audio to create professional sounding recordings of your music.
Overview
What’s included
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- Learn in-demand skills from university and industry experts
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- Develop a deep understanding of key concepts
- Earn a career certificate from Berklee
Specialization - 4 course series
What you'll learn
Identify string names and numbers and read music notation, tablature, chord block diagrams, and fretboard maps
Practice picking, finger picking, and strumming patterns
Play various chords including major and minor triads, open, barre, and pose chords
Read and play a lead sheet
Skills you'll gain
What you'll learn
Identify and practice using appropriate breathing technique while singing.
Identify and practice using your head voice, mix voice, and chest voice while singing.
Learn healthy ways to perform powerful singing/belting.
Incorporate improvisation techniques in your singing style.
Skills you'll gain
What you'll learn
Define and identify the point of view, form, and the "who, what, where, when, and how" in a song
Identify whether a lyric is stable or unstable through the use of line lengths, number of lines, stressed and unstressed syllables, and melody
Utilize the various rhyming techniques to evoke specific emotions in a song and define the difference between Assonance and Consonance rhyme
Use phrasing to clarify your ideas
Skills you'll gain
What you'll learn
Navigate Ableton Live
Program MIDI drums and instruments
Record and edit audio, including working with preexisting audio loops
Create a piece of music using MIDI and audio within Ableton Live
Skills you'll gain
Earn a career certificate
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Frequently asked questions
Each course is 4 weeks long and there are 4 courses in the specialization. Students usually take 14-20 weeks to complete the specialization.
No previous background is necessary. All that is needed is a love of music and a desire to write, perform, and record original music.
It is not required that you complete the courses in a specific order, however we advise that you complete them in the recommended order.
More questions
Financial aid available,